坦肚露腹，中國男性消暑有“北京比基尼”

Summer on the streets of Chinese cities yields a panoply of exotic sights and sounds: old men loudly jousting over mah-jongg tiles, sidewalk barbecues grilling tough-to identify animal parts, and the unmistakable growl of a clearing throat — that ends with an inevitable splat.

中國城市的夏日街頭充斥著一系列奇異的景象和聲響：老頭們大聲地打著麻將、街邊燒烤不知道烤著動物的哪個部位，還有清嗓子發(fā)出的“呵”聲——最后一定是吐出一口痰。

But nothing defines China’s most sweltering season (or bewilders foreigners) more than the curious sartorial habits of grown men who neatly roll up their shirts to reveal bellies, often in glorious plenitude, without the teeniest hint of shame (nor the teeniest hint of a six-pack).

但是，沒有什么比成年男子奇特的衣著習慣更能定義中國最悶熱的季節(jié)(或讓外國人疑惑)。他們把身上的襯衣整齊地卷起來，露出肚子，通常“內(nèi)涵”豐富，而且沒有一點羞愧的跡象(也沒有一點六塊腹肌的痕跡)。

The exposed midriff, visible in shops, restaurants and hospital waiting rooms, often has a companion flourish, with practitioners rolling up their pants legs to just below the knee.

在商店、餐館和醫(yī)院候診室都能見到這些暴露在外的腹部，通常它還有一個搭配，這么做的人往往會把褲腿卷到膝蓋正下方。

This, it will be explained upon asking, is a makeshift form of air-conditioning known as the Beijing Bikini. (Others somewhat disparagingly describe the phenomenon as “bang ye,” which roughly translates as “exposing yourself like a grandfather.”) It is on display anywhere where temperatures sizzle — urban or rural, private space or public sphere, recreational park or commercial shop.

如果你要問的話，這就是空調(diào)的替代版本，叫做“北京比基尼”。(有些人略顯輕蔑地將這種現(xiàn)象稱之為“膀爺”，大致翻譯成“像個老爺子一樣暴露你自己”。)在任何一個非常熱的地方，都會看到這樣的現(xiàn)象——無論城市還是農(nóng)村、私人空間還是公共空間、休閑公園還是商店。

Social convention bars women from engaging in similar displays of flesh. 社會傳統(tǒng)禁止女人們參與類似的對肉體的顯露。

Although adherents, often with cigarette and beer in hand, attest to the Beijing Bikini’s cooling health benefits, they face mounting hostility from educated upstarts or busybody bureaucrats who find the summer parade of bulging tummies uncouth and unbecoming of a great nation.

這些膀爺?shù)淖冯S者常常手拿香煙和啤酒，盡管他們證明“北京比基尼”確實有降溫的健康益處，卻面臨著越來越多的敵意。受過良好教育的自命不凡者和好管閑事的官僚認為，夏天把大肚腩露出來對一個大國來說顯得粗魯且不合適。

Chinese newspapers wage periodic propaganda campaigns against the look, but it endures and is increasingly visible abroad, proudly displayed by Chinese tourists outside New York City art museums, London’s Buckingham Palace and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

中國報紙定期發(fā)起宣傳活動，反對這種裸露。但是這種現(xiàn)象仍在繼續(xù)，而且在海外也越來越多見。在紐約的藝術(shù)博物館、倫敦的白金漢宮和巴黎埃菲爾鐵塔外，都能看到中國游客驕傲地展示著自己的肚子。